Be a Volunteer Survivor

Posted on 01/23/2012

Now you’ve gone and done it, or at least many of us have. January 17 has passed and with it National Ditch Your Resolution Day. Hopefully you’re still going strong with your resolutions, but to those of you that haven’t, read on. There’s still hope.

The television show “Survivor” says it all with their slogan. Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. And when it comes to resolving to volunteer more for nonprofit organizations, the hardest part may be outlasting that norm of ditching your resolutions so early in the year. Use these ideas to keep on track so that this year you’ve made a difference with your resolutions.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try Again
Sometimes, we want to set lofty goals. Maybe you committed to volunteer for an amount of time each week that you are now realizing will be impossible. You don’t have to feel bad if you can’t do what you set out to do. Just realize that it is never too late to adjust your goal. Cut back on hours, or maybe even find a different way to contribute. Nobody runs a marathon the first day of training, and you shouldn’t try to accomplish your highest goal right away. Be realistic so that you can feel good about completing the small steps, and eventually you will be able to work your way up to that big goal you set.

Remind and Motivate
The chances of you completing your goal are always increased when you have somebody cheering you on. Whether it’s your spouse, kids or close friends, have somebody who knows what you’re setting out to accomplish and who may even has the same goal. If you have somebody doing the same thing with you, you can both remind each other of the goal at hand and motivate each other to succeed. When somebody is depending on you, it makes it that much harder to give up on your goals.

Take It Day by Day
No matter what your goal, you need to make progress toward it every day. Maybe you have a set number of hours you want to put in each month toward volunteering at your favorite nonprofit. If that’s the case, a longer time period leaves you with more room to procrastinate, and then ultimately ends up hurting your chances of actually achieving your mission. To keep on track, make a list of things that you can complete for the nonprofit organization, and set weekly tasks to achieve your goals.